Chapter 4: The Writ

Captain Kang was already moving.

"Stay here, Lady Baek."

"No."

He stopped and turned.

"A finalist out of the Detached Palace at midnight is a scandal."

"A dead scribe is a worse one," Soyul said.

"I asked for that cell in front of the whole court. If he dies tonight, it's on me."

He looked at her for one breath.

"Then walk fast," he said.

Dalrae came running out behind them with Soyul's cloak, swearing under her breath the whole way.

The Inner Gate was a tall red gate with a guardhouse built into its side.

Behind the guardhouse, down three steps, was a stone cell with an iron-barred window at the height of a man's chest.

Torches burned on either side of its door.

Four guards stood in front of it with their spears crossed.

In front of them stood a clerk in green silk holding up a folded paper with a red seal.

He was thin, in his thirties, with a neat little mustache.

On his belt hung a small embroidered pouch, and on the pouch a toggle of green jade carved like a cicada.

Soyul stopped walking.

She had seen that cicada before.

It had swung at the belt of the man who carried the tea box to the Moon Pavilion gate.

He had bowed so politely.

He had said, "With the queen's warm regards."

"Captain Kang," the clerk said, and smiled. "The Chief State Councillor's writ. The prisoner comes with me to the State Tribunal for questioning."

Captain Kang didn't take the paper.

"Her Highness gave the prisoner to the Inner Gate this afternoon," he said. "In front of the court."

"A Councillor's writ doesn't outrank the Queen Dowager."

"The Councillor is the Queen Dowager's brother."

"Then he can ask his sister in the morning."

The clerk's smile thinned.

"You're a soldier, Captain. You don't understand how the court works."

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