A city unit had blocked the tunnel with two shields.
Twelve fighters, four bonded beasts and a suppression seal beneath the ceiling. A young lieutenant stood in the centre. She held the warrant in both hands so no one could claim they had not seen the order.
"Rex Wang, you are charged with participation in the Demon Cult, unlawful interference with a human body and assaulting representatives of the Guild. You are subject to immediate arrest."
The same words Kane had used to begin the hunt for me at the Guild. Back then, he had not yet decided how much blood confiscating Styx would require. Now he had no time to keep up appearances.
Two fighters approached with shackles.
Cole did not reach for his weapon.
"Who signed it?" he asked.
"The acting head of the city guard."
"Appointed by Kane Li after the Council was shut down."
"I can see the seal, Sergeant."
"I'm not a sergeant any more."
The lieutenant looked at his burnt uniform.
"Then stand aside."
I held out my hands.
Styx tensed under my collar. Through the bond came an image of someone else's fingers being forced open. The parasite's ability still existed. All she had to do was touch the nearest fighter.
I did not call her.
The shackles closed around my wrists.
Arden stepped out from behind the shield.
After the square, the fighters had released him when the Crown opened the memories to the city. He had refused to go to the infirmary and demanded to be present for the new arrest. The parasite had left its mark on his right hand: his fingers trembled whenever I came near.
Arden stopped with several paces still between us.
"Rex controlled my body," Arden said.
The lieutenant nodded.
"Your statement is attached."
"No. My statement is longer than one line."
He asked to see the warrant's appendix. The lieutenant did not hand over the document, but she turned it round for him.
At the bottom was a familiar clause: upon arrest, all property, bonded creatures, memory records and every witness passed into the temporary custody of the Li family.
Arden read the last two words aloud.
"I'm a witness here. That means once he's arrested, you'll hand me over to Kane."
"It's a protective measure."
"That was what they called the cage."
One of the fighters behind the lieutenant lowered his shield. Another tightened his beast's lead instead.
"An order is still an order," he said.
The white line on his hound's neck flared.
The beast lunged, but not at me. At Rem.
Kane was eliminating the man who could open the archive.
Cole got the shaft of his spear in the way. The hound knocked him off his feet, and a third fighter raised his weapon at the former sergeant. The tunnel filled with shouts. No one knew any longer who was following the order and who was protecting a captured beast.
The lieutenant tore a suppression plate from her belt and struck the white mark with it. The hound went limp. Its master fell beside it and pressed both palms to the beast's burnt neck.
A new pulse from the Crown came down from above. The seal beneath the ceiling began closing the exits.
Taya blew her whistle.
Behind us, the dyers swung a freight cart across the rails. Lenny and the monkey lifted the side grating. The unit had a choice: arrest us under Kane's direct signal, or open the tunnel and save their own beasts from his next command.
Three fighters did not back down. The rest threw their weight against the shields and broke the circuit.
The lieutenant removed my shackles.
She did not tear up the warrant.
"This is evidence," she said. "You have seventeen minutes. Then men without beasts will come, and you'll have no leverage over them."
Arden stepped aside for me, but did not offer his hand.
"When this is over," he said, "my statement will remain."
"It should."
For the first time, he looked me directly in the face.
We entered the tower not exonerated. Merely not handed over to Kane.
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