Chapter 24: The Council

Greyhaven's council sat in a long stone room above the market, behind a table the colour of old honey.

There were three of them, an old man, a broad woman and a young one with a clerk's quick eyes.

The broad woman was the speaker.

She looked at Joss before she looked at me.

"Warden Merrin," she said. "You were sent to the Hall with a letter."

"I delivered it."

"You were not sent to bring home twenty wagons."

"I didn't bring them," Joss said. "They followed her."

Every head turned to me.

I stood alone in the middle of the floor, with my braid down my back.

The crate of eleven ledgers sat at my feet.

Nessa had carried it up three flights of stairs and was standing at the door, glaring at the guard.

"I'm Ivy Penrose," I said. "I was keeper of the Hollin winter stores."

"Those wagons are the crews who stood behind me when the Hall read what was done to me."

"We have heard," the speaker said. "The whole market has heard. Your captain talked at the gate for an hour."

"Then you know why I'm here."

"Tell us anyway."

"I want winter berth for the Hollin wagons that followed me," I said.

"Hay for the horses, a place on the flat below your walls, and the market's leave to trade."

The old man leaned back.

"That is a great deal to ask of a stranger."

"It's a fair thing to ask of a neighbour, after what happened on your road."

That stopped him.

The young clerk scribbled something and held it up for the speaker to see.

Keep reading free with an account. Start He Ignored My Pain, So I Left Him in Regret from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.