*
I awoke a few times between where we were captured and arriving at the Duke’s palace. My hands and feet were tied to a sturdy wooden pole and I was swinging from side to side. The man in front of me was tall and broad-backed; the one behind must have been a bit shorter, because my head seemed to lag lower than the rest of me.
‘He’s awake,’ I heard the man behind me grunt.
‘Hit ’im again, then,’ replied the one in front.
‘No, not yet.’ The new voice was male, but lighter, the accent higher class and somehow familiar. Suddenly a face came into view: long golden-blond hair hung down and almost touched my nose. The face was handsome, and not nearly bruised enough for my liking.
‘Lorenzo.’
He smiled. ‘Imagine us meeting again, First Cantor.’
‘Lorenzo, your face looks remarkably healed for such a short time.’
‘Magic – expensive. And can you believe this? It does nothing at all for the pain – it hurts just as much as when you finished putting your boots to me, Falcio.’
‘Yes, I meant to apologise about that. I’m sorry, Lorenzo, really sorry.’
I looked to my right, trying to catch a glimpse of where we were. From the thick press of people we had to be on one of the main streets – probably Kestrel Way, the road that ended at the Ducal Palace.
Lorenzo grabbed my face with a strong hand – his left, I noticed. I’d done some fairly nasty things to his right.
‘I’m not sure I can accept your apology, Falcio. Not until I’m absolutely sure of your sincerity.’
I tried to shrug, but my limbs were numb so I’m not sure it produced much effect.
‘Where’s the girl, Lorenzo?’ I asked.
‘We’ve taken her on ahead,’ he replied. ‘We want to get started on her as quickly as possible.’
I sighed. Aline had kept the soft candy, so she would certainly be dead by now. At least she had got to pick the time herself. I wondered how they’d caught up with us, but then a different question came to mind.
‘We,’ I said.
‘Hmm?’
‘You said, “We want to get started”. I assume you mean the Duke. How do your so-called “New Greatcoats” feel about the fact that a light slap is all it takes to make you abandon your high and mighty principles and go running to the Duke?’
Lorenzo looked at me with a quizzical expression on his face. ‘Are you serious?’ he asked, genuinely. Then he gave a short bark of laughter. ‘Really? You don’t know?’ More laughter. ‘Saints, Falcio! You didn’t know? And yet you beat me blue and bloody – for what? Because I offended your sense of the grand dignity of the Greatcoats?’
‘Ah. Well, that makes more sense now, doesn’t it.’
He sounded highly amused. ‘Falcio, you may be a fool, and you’re certainly going to die a gruesome death, but you’ve got style.’
‘So these New Greatcoats of yours—?’
‘Useful, potentially. I suppose in one sense you were right, though – they do lack a great deal of dignity. But that was the whole point: bring back the people’s beloved Greatcoats, but with more tractable – more noble – dispositions.’
‘You mean, make sure they’re stupid, vain and largely useless?’
He smiled. ‘Not an entirely unfair characterisation, I suppose. But yes, give people something that looks like a Greatcoat and talks like a Greatcoat, but who can judge a case in a way that produces a more satisfactory and predictable outcome.’
‘And when people start to realise they can’t trust them?’
‘Then they’ll turn away from the Greatcoats and the result will be just as good.’
I thought about that for a few moments. ‘I must apologise again then, Lorenzo.’
‘For what?’
‘Next time I beat you down I’m going to have to make sure you never get up again.’ The swinging was starting to make me nauseous. ‘Hey up there,’ I said to the man in front, ‘keep it steady or there’ll be no tip for you when we get to the palace.’
‘Ha! See, that’s the Falcio I’ve learned to admire in such a short time. You’ve got a sense of humour, of style.’
The swinging stopped. ‘Ah, but see, we’ve arrived at the palace. It was nice seeing you again, Falcio val Mond. I regret that we are unlikely to ever meet again.’ Then Lorenzo pinched my nose with the fingers of his right hand and put his left over my mouth until I passed out.