"You don't have to. Just stay calm. Let me do the talking and I'll get us both out of this."
There didn't seem to be any other choice. Li swallowed his anger and stood still as one of the guards, a thick-necked man approached him warily. His arms were freed from the chains, and bound together in front of him. The corrupt woman guard treated Tycho the same way, though perhaps with a little less fear. When both of them were ready, the third guard led the way out of the cell, down an ugly, damp hallway, and up a flight of narrow stairs.
Li was marched along in the middle of the group. As they ascended the stairs, he heard the woman's voice murmuring behind him. "Hey Tycho, they say you were carrying on with Dantakain's daughter. 'S true?"
"I wouldn't call it carrying on, Desmada. The young lady was just an enthusiastic student."
Li twisted around for a second to look over his shoulder at Tycho and the guard. "You know her?" he asked in Shou.
"Hush!" Tycho said sharply. "I know a lot of people. Now be quiet!"
The exchange earned them both a hard glance from the leading guard and Li a rough jerk on the arm by the guard at his side. Li did, however, manage to lock eyes with the woman guard-Desmada-just briefly.
There was nothing in her gaze except vague curiosity.
Li turned back around and kept shuffling along under his guard's guidance. His mind, though, was on Desmada. She didn't recognize him. How was that possible? It had been dim last night, he supposed, and she had only caught a brief glimpse of him before Lander had run her off. He had probably looked rather different, too, beaten and bruised. Still, there was something disconcerting in her lack of recognition. Could she really care so little as to pay no attention to a man being beaten on her watch?
And Tycho treated her as if nothing were out of the ordinary. The more he saw of the ways of Spandeliyon, the less he liked the town.
The stairs led into another short corridor, from which a door let them all into a large room filled with the dazzle of sunlight. After so long in the dim shadows of the cell, the light was almost blinding. They were marched a short distance and stopped. "Prisoners Tychoben Arisaenn and Kangli Shen, magistrate," said the lead guard, completely mangling Li's name.
"Blessed Tyr," came a wheezing voice out of the glare, "nobody said he was elf-blood."
Li squinted against the light and looked around. They were in a vaulted chamber dominated by tall windows in one wall and an imposing raised dais on another. On the dais was a very large and heavy chair. Seated in it was a very tall and thin old man in severe robes. Li fixed him with a frustrated glare. "I am not an elf!"
In the shadow of the great chair, another man rapped a heavy rod against the floor. "Respect for the magistrate!" Li immediately received two hard pokes in the side, one from the guard who stood on his left and one from Tycho on his right. The singer also gave him a scowl and a short hiss for silence.
Up on the dais, the old man winced at the banging. "Thank you, Dorth. Why have they been arrested?"
The man with the rod glanced at a parchment. "For brawling, sir. Assault on the Captain of the Guard. Kuang Li Chien-" He pronounced the name carefully and with a haughty glance at the lead guard. "-is also arrested for forcibly entering a private residence and for impersonating an official of a foreign government. Tychoben Arisaenn also for moral corruption of Laera Dantakain."
"Moral corruption?" The magistrate sat up a little. "I haven't heard that one in a while."
There was a slight snicker from the guards present. Bang! went the rod. "Respect for the magistrate! Captain of the Guard Mard Dantakain will present his case!"
Mard Dantakain stepped up from behind them. He was dressed in a full and ornate guard uniform, immaculately clean. He related the events of the morning in a blunt, matter-of-fact tone, leaving nothing out and neither exaggerating nor diminishing anything. Li felt his heart sink.
Considered in hindsight and with a cooler head, what he had done was nothing short of stupid. Barging into Mard Dantakain's house wearing clothes stolen from a drunk, trying to pass himself off as an ambassador of Shou Lung when half the population of Spandeliyon apparently couldn't distinguish a Shou from an elf it was, he realized, lucky they were getting any kind of trial at all. If Li had been in the magistrate's place, he probably would have left them down in the darkness of their cell!
By the time Mard had finished speaking, he felt sick.
"Prisoners Tychoben Arisaenn and Kuang Li Chien will respond!"
Li swallowed and stepped forward, ready to confess to everything. Tycho, however, was faster. He took two steps forward, poking Li again on the way past, and made a graceful bow that hardly seemed hampered at all by his bonds. "Magistrate Vanyan," he said in a very grand voice.
The magistrate gave a thin, slightly confused smile. "Have we met before?"
"Your name precedes you, sir. Your wisdom is well known in dockside. If it please you, I will speak for both myself and this esteemed gentleman of Shou." He gestured toward Li. "During our imprisonment, we discovered that we share a common tongue and I was able to discuss the situation with him. This is all really a terrible mistake stemming from his imperfect understanding of our language."
"Wait," protested Mard Dantakain, "he understood Common perfectly well when I spoke to him. He spoke it back to me!" Tycho glanced at him and raised his eyebrows.
"Did he, Captain Dantakain? Your testimony to the esteemed magistrate was remarkable in its precision. Did you rehearse it?"
"Yes."
"Master Kuang did the same with the appeal he presented to you this morning. If I asked you to tell me right now in the same detail what happened to you yesterday morning, could you?" Li saw Mard look to Vanyan in confusion, but Tycho gave neither of them time to reply. "I didn't think so." He looked to the magistrate as well. "The same thing happened with Master Kuang, sir. He perfected a limited speech, but was flustered when Captain Dantakain began to challenge his appeal for help. Please, sir, I'm afraid Captain Dantakain has overestimated Master Kuang's comprehension."
The magistrate's eyes narrowed. "Indeed." He turned to Li. "Master Kuang, have you understood what is happening here?"
Both TVcho and Mard turned to look at him as well. Li swallowed again and cursed silently. Tycho's mouth was twitching just slightly. Was that supposed to mean yes or no? It seemed as if TVcho wanted him to play dumb. "No," he said, guessing.
Tycho winced. Vanyan sat back. "The elf-blood understands enough to know that he does not understand. It seems to me his exchange with the captain this morning was less complex than what takes place in this chamber. Lack of comprehension does not strike me as sufficient excuse for his behavior."
"Sir, he was also confused," Tycho replied quickly. "He had by his own admission just been savagely robbed and was also, I have learned, desperately hungry. In that state, he was focused on only one thing and would say anything to obtain it. I believe if you test him further, you'll find that even the basic comprehension you assume is lacking." The magistrate frowned and look at Li again.
"What is my name?" he said slowly and with emphasis. Tycho turned as well. This time his eyes flicked over his shoulder and toward the dais. His right hand made a tight shaking motion. No, a rapping motion.
Li put on a pleasant smile and bowed. "Your name is Respect," he said in an accent so thick it made him cringe. "Respect the Magistrate!"
The guards chuckled immediately. On the dais, Dorth slammed his rod down. "Respect for the magistrate!" he said automatically and flushed. In response, Li folded his arms and bent in an even deeper bow.
"Respect the Magistrate!" he repeated.