Mike Shevdon - Sixty-One Nails

"The Queen's Remembrancer, who is also a High Court Judge, issued a court order this morning. Notices have been lodged with a number of London solicitors and are held in trust pending my disappearance. I don't know all the details, for no single person does, but if I do not present myself before the Queen's Remembrancer before the week is out then they have instructions to assume I am dead and enact the court order. The notices will be posted by agents throughout the city. Special arrangements have been made to make sure Marshdock gets one of the first notices printed. By the end of the week, everyone, Fey and human, will know what you did."

"This is an outrage!" shouted Krane.

"So is killing me to keep a secret."

A sound built slowly. It rumbled and bubbled up around us until it was near deafening. I realised, finally, that the ogre was laughing. By the time she had subsided and we could hear ourselves think, the realisation of what I had done had come home to them all.

"This is impossible duress," said Krane. "If we let him go then he could tell them anyway."

"If we don't let him go then they will certainly find out," said Kimlesh. "He's sending it to Marshdock of all people. You know what that means."

"I say kill him now and clean up the mess as we find it," said Krane.

"You're letting your heart rule your head, Krane," said Teoth. "This has been carefully constructed. I am impressed." He nodded to me and folded his arms, regarding me with new interest.

"I still say we cannot allow him to leave without an oath to seal his lips."

"Then I will give you one," I said. "Which of you will accept it?"

They looked at each other. "We cannot," said Kimlesh. "You don't understand."

"Then you'll just have to take my word for it," I told them.

"We cannot do that either," said Yonna. "It is too sensitive. It would leave you unprotected if someone were to try and pry it from you. There are those who would do so if they knew, and fragments of this may yet slip back from other sources."

"It would suit the wraithkin lord's purposes to see us squirm," Barthia agreed.

"You don't know what you've done," said Yonna.

"I think I've saved my own skin," I told her.

"Only for the moment. There are others who will not give you the clean death that we would have."

"I'll deal with that when it happens," I told her.

The long-limbed figure of Mellion uncurled itself from the seat and stood, proving himself a head taller than either me or Garvin. He spread his hands flat and moved them slowly apart. The others stopped talking. He pointed to the vacant seat, then held his hands over his eyes. Then he dropped his hands and walked around to Garvin and held his hand out. Garvin looked confused until Mellion gently prised the scabbard from Garvin's hand and offered it to me.

"What does he want me to do with it?" I asked Garvin.

"I think he's offering you a solution," said Garvin.

"He wants me to kill myself?" I asked.

"No," said Kimlesh. "Hordemaster Mellion has once again proved his tactical ability. My compliments, sir."

Mellion bowed and returned to his seat, leaving me holding Garvin's scabbard and wondering whether I could use it as a weapon in some way. One look at Garvin, however, changed my mind. He held his long blade with easy readiness.

I looked around the circle of faces, the blank looks among them reflecting my own confusion.

"Why am I holding this?" I asked Kimlesh.

"Mellion is suggesting you join the warders."

"Me? I don't know one end of a pointed stick from the other."

"I agree," said Krane. "A wraithkin warder? His loyalty would be questionable at best."

"But there have always been wraithkin warders, haven't there, Garvin. Tell them," said Kimlesh.

"This is true," Garvin said. "While there hasn't been a wraithkin warder since the separation of the Seventh Court, that's only because there have been no candidates. As you know, there were originally seven warders, one from each court. And their loyalty is to no single court. We carry out the will of the council." He made this point looking directly at Krane.

"I'm sorry, Garvin," he said. "I did not mean to imply-"

"I understand your concern, Lord Krane, but the warders swear their oath to the council, revoking any previous oath to their own court. They are bound to the council as anyone else is bound to their court."

"Are you… are you offering me a job?" I asked them.

"It is a way out of the dilemma, certainly," said Kimlesh. "We need your silence and you wish to survive. The two are not incompatible if you are a warder."

Garvin addressed himself to the council. "I would respectfully remind the council that you are going to be putting your lives in this man's hands. Is that what you want?"

"Can you train him?" asked Teoth.

Garvin looked me up and down, assessing me like a piece of meat. "I can make him competent. Whether he has any true ability remains to be seen."

"He's already proven himself far more resourceful than any of us would have credited," said Teoth.

"And it is better to have him bound close to us than running around loose, don't you think?" Kimlesh looked around the circle.

"Warders can get killed," said Krane. "If he dies in service then we still risk exposure."

"I can ask the Remembrancer to rescind the order," I told them. "If you will all swear not to harm me or mine then it can be withdrawn. It will take a few weeks to unravel, but it can be done."

"You misunderstand," said Kimlesh. "We would not harm you. You will be our protector, our bodyguard and our servant. A warder has never, ever been harmed by the council."

"Nevertheless," I looked at Krane, "that's my condition."

He sat back in his seat, while everyone looked at him. "Very well," he said. "Swear him in. The sooner this is done with, the better."

"Do you each swear that you will do me no harm, either directly or indirectly?"

"I swear that we will treat you like any other warder, with no preference or privilege, nor any wish for harm," said Kimlesh.

"So say I," said Yonna.

"And I," said Teoth

Mellion pressed his hand over his heart and nodded solemnly.

Barthia agreed, "The same for me."

Krane looked around the faces, then nodded. "I'm going to regret this, I just know it," he sighed. "I too will treat you as any other warder with no preference or privilege, nor any wish for harm. Is that enough?"

I nodded.

"Give Garvin his scabbard back and then take off your jacket and kneel," said Kimlesh. "Garvin?"

Garvin took back his scabbard and moved to the side of me while I dropped the jacket in a bundle on the floor and knelt in the centre of the star.

"Put out your right hand and bare your wrist," she instructed.

I hesitated just a moment, then pulled back the shirt from my wrist, exposing the skin. I held out my wrist and Garvin's blade flashed down. I flinched, but the blade stopped, just above the veins of my wrist. He withdrew the sword.

"A test?" I asked. Then I noticed the blood welling out of the cut across my wrist. I hadn't even felt it touch me.

"Taste it," said Kimlesh. I sucked the blood, feeling the coppery tang of it in my mouth.

"By your blood, will you serve the will of the council until released of your service," she asked.

"I will." The coppery taste got stronger.

"By your heart, will you hold the life of any member of the council above your own?"

I looked at Krane. "I will." I could feel the blood on my tongue.

"By your mind, will you seek to preserve and protect your fellow warders even at risk of your own life?"

"I will." Its taste thickened.

"By your power, will you keep the secrets of the council, even to your own death?"

"I will."