"I expect the Sentinel Marshal to arrive within a few moments," Aunn said. "But I'm not sure that's a bad thing."
"What?" Ashara said.
"You're the best chance we have to prove Jorlanna's involvement in all this," Aunn said. "You and Harkin."
"Have we met?" Harkin asked, looking at Aunn for the first time.
"Yes, in your forgehold. I told you I was Kelas ir'Darren. My real name is Aunn."
Harkin arched an eyebrow. "Interesting," he said. "So what's your connection to all this intrigue?"
Aunn glanced at Cart and Ashara. Much like them, he realized, his connection to this mess was that he had played an unwitting part in Nara's plans and was trying now to undo the harm he'd wrought. And, he supposed, trying to imagine and live out a life that was less tangled and shady, more honest, more pure. Cart and Ashara might not express it like that, but Cart's comment about the Dark using fear as a gateway to enter the world resonated with Aunn's own thinking.
For Harkin, though, he decided on a simpler answer. "I've been working with the Sentinel Marshal to investigate Jorlanna's plots."
"Harkin, listen," Ashara said, staring at the table and carefully keeping her voice low. "I think you should leave. We might have common purpose, but I don't think we can work together."
"Particularly after you threatened us," Cart said.
"I can appreciate that," Harkin said. "I'll admit that when Cart threw me out of that bakery, I was furious, and I spoke in anger. But once I calmed down, I realized that I'd be a damned fool to throw away our chances of saving House Cannith because of my injured pride. I'm willing to put that unfortunate incident behind us for the sake of our common cause."
Harkin had addressed Ashara, but her eyes went to Cart, waiting for him to respond to Harkin's overture.
"I also let my anger get the better of me," Cart said. "I apologize." He extended a hand to Harkin, who at first seemed not to notice.
Then he half-turned to Cart, clasped his hand as he flashed a forced smile, and turned back to Ashara. Cart bristled, and Aunn began to understand how Harkin had stirred up Cart's anger.
"Well, Ashara?" Harkin said. "Can I still count on your assistance?"
"Not until you find it in yourself to treat Cart like a person. He's not a tool, Harkin. He's the best and bravest man I've ever known. You owe him an apology."
Harkin scoffed, and Cart drew himself up further. "Man?" Harkin said. "A man is born from a womb, not made in a creation forge. A man breathes and eats. A man has a soul, Ashara. And a man can sire children of his own. Your warforged might be a loyal companion, and I can understand that you have some affection for him. But he's not a man you can love and wed."
Aunn gave Cart a great deal of credit. Cart must have been furious, but he showed no hint of it, sitting perfectly still, proud and tall in his chair. But Ashara's fists were clenched on the table before her, white-knuckled, her face was bright red, and tears lined her eyes.
"You had better leave, Harkin," she said, her voice strangled.
"Grow up, Ashara," Harkin said. "I haven't said anything you don't know is true. You'll be happier in the long run if you face reality now."
"Please go."
"Ashara…"
"She asked you to leave," Cart said. "Don't make me carry you out again."
Harkin slammed his hands down on the table and stood. "When this is over, I'm going to be in charge of the forgehold as Baron Merrix's lieutenant. I could have asked him to reverse Jorlanna's ban of excoriation, to welcome you back into the family. Instead, I'm going to make sure your life is miserable. You should have listened to me, Ashara."
Aunn watched him stomp to the door and abruptly stop. He backed away as the Sentinel Marshal and Ossa entered, and his shoulders slumped as they led him back to the table. With Mauren at his back, he sat back in his chair, avoiding everyone's gaze.
"Well, here's an interesting assembly," Mauren said, sweeping her gaze around the table.
"We've been discussing matters of interest to you," Aunn said. "I understand you're acquainted with Ashara and Cart, and clearly you know Harkin."
"Yes, we've all met before. Perhaps you'd like to explain why you're having a friendly chat with the mastermind responsible for the device that stripped the dragonmark from your friend Gaven."
Ashara's knuckles were white again, but Cart put a hand on her arm to reassure her.
"Cart and Ashara have been helping me make more sense out of the plot on the queen. Those mercenaries from Droaam-did you know that Jorlanna armed them?"
"Kol Korran's beard, changeling!" Ossa grumbled, pulling another chair over to the table. She sat down and crossed her arms, scowling. "You're not going to convince us to let another criminal go!"
Aunn's brow went cold. "She can help us get Jorlanna and put a stop to all this."
"So you've decided to cooperate now," Mauren said, "is that it?" Ashara glanced up at the Sentinel Marshal, then at Cart. "I suppose I have."
"You heard that I've made a few arrests already, and you got scared."
"No, that's not-"
"Why didn't you come clean before?"
"I was afraid-"
"What about you, Harkin? Have you also decided to help in a desperate attempt to save your skin?"
Harkin ignored her, staring at the wall.
Aunn recognized what Mauren was doing-firing off questions more quickly than they could be answered, trying to put Ashara and now Harkin off balance. This meeting was not going as he had imagined.
"Mauren, why don't you sit down?" he said.
"I don't want to sit down. I want to take our friends here to the city jail where they can start getting used to spending the rest of their sorry lives in Dreadhold. I've been looking for you for five days, Ashara. Now that I've got you, you and your baron are going to see just how much trouble you're in."
"No," Aunn said. "We need her help."
"What in sea or sky do we need her help for? We know the Dragon Forge stripped the Mark of Storm off your friend Gaven. We know his dragonmark powered the storm that destroyed Varna. Ashara told me herself that she was responsible for the project-that's why Jorlanna excoriated her." She wheeled on Ashara. "If you'd told me five days ago what I needed to know, I could have protected you from prosecution and even from the reprisals of your House. But now? I have no more need of you. I just want to see you locked up to make sure you can't strip the dragon-mark off anyone else."
"Mauren, listen," Aunn said. "She's already realized her mistake…"
"Mistake? Stripping off a Mark of Siberys was a mistake?"
"Yes!" Ashara said, drawing stares. "We never should have drawn on the power we did."
"And she helped me disable the Dragon Forge," Aunn said.
"Then perhaps she'll receive a lighter sentence," Mauren said. "But I'm not letting this one run free."
"Will you sit down and talk this through?" Aunn barked. "Is a moment of civil conversation too much to ask?"
"With the likes of her?" Mauren said.
"Pull up a chair, Mauren," Ossa said. "Let's hear the changeling out."
Finally the Sentinel Marshal complied, settling in a chair and pushing a stray lock of blond hair behind her ear. "Very well, Ashara. Five days ago you told me you had no information to give that would help me bring your baron to justice. What has changed?"
Aunn bit his tongue, unsure what Ashara would or could say to blunt the force of Mauren's anger toward her. He wished they all had left the Ruby Chalice before the Sentinel Marshal had arrived.
Ashara took a slow breath and reached into a large pouch at her belt. Aunn tensed, and he saw Mauren and Ossa stiffen as well. She produced a battered roll of paper and smoothed it open on the table.
"What is this?" Mauren asked, the anger draining from her voice.
Aunn saw at once what it was-and from the man's low whistle, Aunn figured Harkin did as well. The paper was covered with intricate diagrams, and Aunn recognized the column of blue stone that featured prominently in every view. Part physical plan and part instructions for the magical artifice, the papers detailed Ashara's plans for the Dragon Forge.