Chapter 61

They tried me on the twenty-ninth of October, in the council hall, before as many of Vaelmoor as could be fitted into it.

For the twelve days since the ford, I had been kept in a barred room at the top of the council house. The chain had come off on the first day. The bridle had not. It lay on the root of my tongue like a coin, cold in the mornings and colder at night, with the hand under it resting on my throat. Every morning I sat on the edge of the cot and tried to say my own name, and every morning nothing came. My wolf did not try. She had not said a word since the ford.

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The council hall was built like a well, benches climbing three walls in tiers, and on the fourth a dais with the long council table and the King’s chair in the middle of it. The Seelie benches were empty.

They gave me a stool in the middle of the floor. I stood beside it all morning, and when my leg began to shake I let it shake.

Caspian sat in the King’s chair. He looked like