Chapter 1

I just couldn't believe this was happening. The Sitian council had Valek locked in the Keep's cells and were going to hang him on Saturday. I managed to contact Yelena, using one of the new type of glass messenger. However she was 5 days ride away and would never be here in time and she couldn't do much from where she was. She may have a glass messenger but it wouldn't do any good if no-one in the council was prepared to listen. Apparently Janco and Ari (Valek's seconds) were still in Fulgor but that was still four days away and it was Wednesday now.

This left me in a very difficult position. I couldn't do much to change the minds of the council members but Yelena would kill me if they actually went through with it. Also there was Mara to consider. She wouldn't be happy if I was defending Valek given the fact that everyone is accusing him of killing Opal. It doesn't help matters that Valek himself appears to believe it is true but says he doesn't understand what happened.

"Leif," said Mara putting her hand on my shoulder. I jumped. I had been so distracted by my thoughts that I hadn't even noticed her come in.

"Sorry, I was miles away. Did you want something?" I asked.

"No, not really. I just don't know what to do with myself," she replied. I could see she had been crying again.

"Have you heard from Devlin and the kids yet," I asked gently.

"No, my parents should be arriving tomorrow but none of us have heard from Devlin yet. It is like they have completely vanished. No-one has seen them for days and the house is empty. Everyone thought they must be coming here to tell us the news in person but if they were they should have arrived by now." This was another mystery which needed solving. Where had they got to?

"It is all very strange. I don't know where they could have gone," I said.

"I don't understand why they would go anywhere else. If it wasn't for those glass messengers we wouldn't even know what happened."

"We still don't know exactly what happened," I said quietly.

"I do, that man killed my sister. That is all I need to know," she said angrily.

"But he doesn't seem to know how it happened and he certainly wouldn't have meant it to happen. Also no-one has found Opal's body. You can't think that Devlin has it with him, wherever he is."

"He admitted it and even Janco thinks he did it."

"Valek's family he wouldn't hurt any of us."

"He killed my sister. Everyone is saying so. I won't have his name mentioned in my house. As far as I am concerned he is a murderer and deserves everything that is coming to him," she argued bitterly.

I could see she was getting very angry and upset so decided to change the subject. Mara was never going to be able to understand my position. I was stuck in the middle. Both Yelena and Mara expected me to take their side. I found it difficult to believe that Valek would kill Opal but all the evidence was against him.

It would probably be a lot easier if Valek hadn't said that he had killed Opal but there was already witnesses saying they saw Devlin throwing him out the house and yelling abuse at him. There were apparently also stories from the kids saying that Valek had argued and got into some kind of fight with Opal earlier on in the day. Added to all this you had Valek's reputation so very few people would have been willing to believe him anyway. I just wish that Devlin would turn up because he was the only witness to the actual event.

No-one appears to have given any thought to how all this will affect Sitia's relationship with Ixia. The Commander has been trying to contact the Sitian council but they are refusing to make any kind of deal. In my opinion they have been trying to get Valek for years and now they finally have him confessing to a crime nothing and no-one will be able to persuade them to let him go. It seems the only thing that could stop him being hung on Saturday was Opal herself turning up and saying everything was a big mistake. However that appeared to be extremely unlikely to happen.

New story – Lets see if this one gets any more reviews than the others. Have put 2 chapters up to start you off. Let me know what you think.