Benjamin Tate - Well of Sorrows

On the platform, Sartori grimaced and waved the guardsmen forward. They snagged Shay’s body, hauled it back onto the platform, removed the noose and carried the corpse to one side as the trapdoor was reset.

The second man spat at Sartori’s feet before the noose dropped over his neck. He didn’t struggle, didn’t even speak, his glare falling over everyone in the crowd, from Portstown and Lean-to alike. Tom hadn’t met him, although he knew he’d come from a conscript ship.

Everyone in both groups flinched when the trapdoor was released.

The third man had been a thief. He wept without a sound, struggled only at the last moment, surging forward as Arten gave the command to trigger the trapdoor. He swung back and forth, his neck snapping as the rope pulled taut.

The fourth man collapsed to his knees before they’d even removed the third man from the noose. He begged, pleaded, fell down onto his side. “I wasn’t part of the riot!” he screamed as the guardsmen dragged him across the platform, as they jerked him upright. “I wasn’t part of Shay’s group!”

Sartori simply frowned.

“You have to believe me!” the man roared. “I was there looking for work! I was there to unload the ship!” The noose tightened around his neck and he heaved in a loud, noisy, ragged breath. “I was only looking for work,” he mumbled, snot coating his upper lip. His head sagged forward, hair falling down in front of his face And then the trapdoor cracked open.

Before the body had stopped swinging, the crowd grew restless, a low unpleasant murmur starting on the Lean-to side, drifting slowly to the Portstown side.

There was only one more prisoner left on the platform.

Colin.

“Tom,” Ana said, and this time her voice was sharp with warning, cutting deep.

Tom stepped forward, let Ana’s hand go, felt Sam and Paul step up behind him, along with a few others from Lean-to. He caught Arten’s answering movement from the side, saw Arten’s dark frown, hand resting on his sword in warning. But before either of them could do anything, Sartori turned back to the crowd. His face was grim, hard, lines etching the corners of his mouth, his eyes. He looked over everyone gathered, letting his gaze settle finally on Tom.

“Before I handle this last case,” he said, and his voice fell into complete silence, into an ominous tension that prickled against Tom’s skin, “I have an announcement.”

No one in the square moved. Tom felt Arten’s presence at his side, like a lodestone, felt every Armory guardsman and every tradesman from Lean-to where they stood, felt Colin’s nervous glance as the guardsmen shuffled him forward, as they placed him over the trapdoor.

“As Proprietor of Portstown, I have only the town’s well-being in mind. I, and my father before me, have always felt that expansion of the town and the Carrente lands to the east is a necessity for our survival. He, and I, sent expeditions onto the plains in the past, but unfortunately nothing has come of those forays. We don’t know why those expeditions failed, but we must make further attempts, or our survival here in New Andover will be in jeopardy.

“To that end, the Carrente Family, along with the West Wind Trading Company, will be sending another expedition to the east, with the intent to establish a new town, one that will be the foundation of our expansion to the east in the future. We have already gathered the necessary materials for this expedition; however we are lacking in the men and women who have the skills to make the settlement a success.

“At the West Wind Trading Company’s request, I have extended a proposal to the guildsmen in Lean-to, to Tom Harten in particular.” Sartori motioned toward Tom, and everyone’s attention shifted, drawn to him, to Sam and Paul and all of the others that stood behind him.

“Tom Harten,” Sartori said. “Will you lead this expedition? Will you journey into the plains and start this settlement? The Carrente Family would be in your debt.”

Then Sartori lowered his head. Something flickered in his eyes.

And Tom stilled. Because in the Proprietor’s gaze he could see what was truly offered, what Sartori truly meant. He’d waited to make the announcement on purpose, waited until Colin stood ready to face judgment, until Colin stood over the trapdoor, the noose dangling over his head. The message was clear.

If Tom said no, Colin would hang.

And he wasn’t the only one to see the threat behind the words. The crowd at his back stirred, restless, uneasy. A dark, fluid uneasiness, like deep ocean.

To the side, he saw Arten frown with disapproval, with something deeper.

Discontent.

But the Armory commander didn’t move. No one moved, those gathered waiting. To see how he would react, to see what he would do. And he knew that if he said no, if Sartori threatened Colin’s life because of it, that those from Lean-to, even the guildsmen, would fight. He could hear it in the dark, swelling murmur behind him, could feel it. They hadn’t done so for the others, for Shay and his group, but that was because Shay and the others had gone to the docks with knives, had planned on violence.

Colin hadn’t. His arrest in Lean-to had been witnessed, and word had spread through the nest of huts and shacks and tents like wildfire.

Tom’s eyes narrowed. He glanced toward Colin, looked into his son’s eyes, saw the fear there, the stark terror, barely contained, then turned back to Sartori.

For a single, burning moment, he wanted to take advantage of the black emotions of the crowd behind him, wanted to release them, and Sartori and Portstown be damned.

But he knew what Ana would want, knew what she’d do, knew that she would never forgive him. They hadn’t discussed the matter of the expedition, had focused on Colin, on trying to get some sleep, on holding each other for comfort to get through the night.

But he didn’t need to ask her, didn’t even need to turn to look at her. He could feel her at his back.

Drawing a deep breath, everyone around him tensing, Arten’s hand tightening on the pommel of his sword to one side, Tom said, “Yes. I’ll lead the expedition to the east.”

He was surprised. There was no bitterness in his voice at all.

Colin didn’t begin to panic until the guardsmen brought him out into the sunlight, harsh after the dimness of the barracks, and he saw his parents standing at the front of the crowd. His father’s face was drawn, somehow stark; his mother’s was terrified.

And it was that terror that reached down into Colin’s gut with a cold hand and brought a shiver of sweat to his skin.

The Armory barracks hadn’t been that bad. After seizing him in Lean-to, after allowing Walter that hard punch to the stomach, the Armory had forced Walter aside and led Colin down to the town, stumbling with pain and weak with shock. He hadn’t thought beyond his attack on Walter, on his gang. He’d thought that would be the end of it, the end of all of the fighting, that Walter would back off now that he knew Colin would fight back.

That Walter would turn to the Armory had never crossed his mind.

When the guardsmen had thrust him into the cell inside the barracks, he’d worried about what they would do to him. But then someone charged into the room, barking orders, and everyone except a few guardsmen had thrown down their cards or dice, grabbed weapons, and rushed out of the building. Those that remained hadn’t been interested in Colin at all, pacing before the tables and cots that filled the majority of the room. They hadn’t even looked in his direction.

Nearly an hour later, a group returned, leading Shay and three others, their hands trussed behind their backs. One of the men was bleeding from a cut to his shoulder. Shay looked enraged.