Free 9: The Iron Temple by Ginn Hale Page A

soon,” Saimura whispered.
    “I’ll go if you want me to.” Fenn propped himself up on his elbow.
    “I…You probably should,” Saimura said.
    After bestowing a final kiss, Fenn crept back to his own bed. An hour later, when Pirr’tu returned, only John remained awake to congratulate him.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter Ninety-Three
     
    John spent most of the next two days with Pirr’tu sitting in wine houses, listening to men converse and complain. And because all trains leaving the city had ground to a halt two weeks ago, both the numbers of stranded travelers and the vigor of their grievances seemed to grow hourly.
     John kept his head bowed, letting his black-stained hair hide his features. Pirr’tu talked easily and drank wine without any seeming concern.
    Train attendants, mill workers, cobblers, and smiths all drank with Pirr’tu. Most men warmed to his easy manner and often confessed far more to Pirr’tu than John would have imagined possible. John admired Pirr’tu’s skill with people while watching him fill a stocky prison guard’s wine cup. Pirr’tu nodded sympathetically as the guard continued to elaborate on his recent troubles.
    “No one in his right mind thinks that little beauty, Lon’ahma, is a witch. She’s simple as a lamb, she is. But orders come straight from the priests. So we lock her up.” The prison guard accepted the wine cup from Pirr’tu gladly.
    “Next thing we know we have to arrest her grandfather and all five grandmothers for blocking the gates. And her great uncle too. The man’s nearly eighty!” The guard shook his head. “If you ask me, I’d say we should just cut the lot of them loose, Lon’ahma too. But the priests won’t have that.”
    “Sounds bad,” Pirr’tu said.
    “I’ve got kids throwing rocks at me,” the guard grumbled, “kids I know. I caught Wan’uhmari’s sons and dragged them back to his shop by their ears. I’d like to say they got a beating for it, but I don’t believe they did.”
    “But the warden freed the grandparents yesterday, didn’t he?” Pirr’tu asked. “Things should be better now.”
     The guard shook his head and frowned down at his wine.
    “It’s not set right by far and that husband of hers won’t let any of his trains roll out of the city until it is,” the guard said, and then he turned the conversation to Pirr’tu’s travels. Pirr’tu obliged him with a few amusing stories of trading tahldi and charming country girls.
    “Of course, there’s not much of that now that I’ve been saddled with a brother-in-law.” Pirr’tu gestured to John with his thumb. John simply nodded to the guard and continued playing his part as Pirr’tu’s silent, dour bodyguard of an in-law. Other men joined them at the table and the conversations wandered. John listened and hours later, when Pirr’tu was drunk, he steadied Pirr’tu as they walked back to the Hearthstone Hostel.
    Lafi’shir returned from the train station with stories and conjectures, but no solid date for when the trains would be moving again. Fenn and Saimura brought other news from the city stables.
    All Gisa’s current troubles seemed to have stemmed from the arrest of a single girl. Lon’ahma belonged to a wealthy and respected family of craftsmen. Her grandfather had overseen the building of Gisa’s fountains. Her husband, Kirh’yu, owned the Gisa train station. By all accounts Lon’ahma was pretty and devout: a very attractive girl with the mind of a child. No one could credit her possessing the cruelty of a witch, much less the intellect required.
    Nevertheless, the ushman at the Gisa temple had tested her with goatweed and demanded that she be arrested. Fenn reported that many of the young men at the city stables had suggested that the ushman simply wanted the girl for himself.
    On the day of Lon’ahma’s arrest, her husband had cut off all services at the train station. Cases of cheese, flocks of animals, pallets of tapestries, and