Chapter 21: What He Knew

They brought Corwin up the stair at a quarter to noon, in irons.

He stood in the dock with a guard at each elbow.

The whole hall was packed to the rafters, and he did not look at the duke.

Leander sat on the front bench in black and silver, as straight as a drawn sword.

Corwin knew he had been awake all night.

The lawyer rose, thin and fresh as a new pen.

"Your Highness, the Court has heard the two watchmen.

"It has heard that the duke cried out the words 'every time'.

"We ask for a finding on the writ, and for the duke to be taken into the care of the Gray House today."

"Your Highness," said Leander.

Dorian looked at him.

"I will answer what I meant by 'every time.'"

"Your Grace is free to speak."

Leander stood.

He walked slowly to the middle of the floor and turned to face the dais.

His hands, held behind his back, were quite steady.

"I'm going to say things that no one in this room can explain," he said.

"I will not explain them.

"I will only say them, and I ask the Court to send men to test whether they are true."

He drew a breath.

"There is an apothecary in Tanner's Lane, the third shop from the corner, with a green door.

"He has one eye.

"On the third of March, at eleven at night, he sold a flask of aconite.

"The buyer was a man in a grey cloak who paid four hundred crowns in gold."

The lawyer started to speak, and Dorian lifted a finger.

"The man in the grey cloak then rode to the old mill at Thornfield, and met a second man there in the dark.

"He gave him half of what he'd bought.

"His coat lost a button on the way, a ruby one, the third from the top.

"It rolled under the shelf in the apothecary's back room, and the apothecary kept it, because he thought it might be worth something."

A hush fell over the hall.

Corwin watched Hadrian's face.

It had gone the colour of tallow, but his expression was courteous.

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