Page 80 of Inferno

Half an hour passed, in which Renfold disappeared up the road, then a dozen small groups came and went, giving various reports about the state of the forest, and the Chalandrians asked a handful of questions about Nerik’s success and checked on his overall wellbeing. Finally, though, Captain Renfold came back, dismounting from his horse and coming to stand before Nerik.

“It seems you’re as good as your word,” he said, though he still sounded none too happy about it. “The fire is out. And I can see from the burn area that it was indeed a serious threat to the town. I’m not going to try and downplay the danger. This fire would have destroyed dozens of homes and possibly taken lives. We owe you a debt of gratitude.”

Nerik said nothing, and standing beside him, Yorin held his breath. There was a huge, unspoken ‘but’ in Renfold’s words, and he could see from the expressions on their faces that the rest of their friends were waiting for the hammer to fall.

“But the fact remains, you are a demon,” Renfold said. “But before you start chewing my ear off about jumping to conclusions and not giving people a fair go,” he went on, shooting a mild glare Yorin’s way and cutting off anything he might have said in Nerik’s defence, “I would like to hear your side of the story. I think you’ve earned that much.”

This was it. This was the bit where Renfold would ask why Nerik had come to Minia in the first place, and Nerik could tell him that everyone in Chalandros was just trying to survive, fleeing from drought and famine and a dying world…

“You have pretended to be a human and deceived this entire city for three long years,” Renfold said, skipping right over the reason Nerik was here in the first place. “What do you have to say about that?”

“If I didn’t present myself as a human, I would have been killed a long time ago,” Nerik said. “A certain degree of deception was necessary for my own survival. But there was no malicious intent involved.”

“A fair point,” Renfold conceded. “And you have worked here as a messenger. Why?”

“I needed to earn money. It was a task that was easy to get started in and it required no particular skills, aside from a good memory and a fit pair of legs.”

“And if I allow you to live, what do you intend to do from here on out?”

Nerik hesitated before replying. He looked around at the crowd, at the Chalandrians waiting for his pardon, at the humans peering at him with a mixture of curiosity and disgust, and at the warriors, scowling at Renfold for daring to hold a simple conversation with a demon. “With your permission, Captain, I would simply continue my life as I’ve lived it so far. I would work as a messenger – for those who would still employ me, at least. I would visit friends, and drink expensive whisky in the pub, and complain about the weather, much as any human in Minia would do. I have lived a quiet life, since I crossed the gate, and I have no desire to do anything other than continue in the same vein.”

It seemed that Renfold didn’t know what to make of that.

Ask him to let more Chalandrians across the gate, Kit suggested urgently.

Tell him you’re not a demon, Forlegard insisted.

Couldn’t you at least say something about proving to humans that demons aren’t evil?Gosta asked him, sounding annoyed.

Shut up!Nerik snapped at the lot of them.When it’s your fucking head on the chopping block, you can make all the demands you like. Today, this is my choice.

Well said, Rimdolen muttered, and Yorin had to suppress a smile at that. He was really starting to like this unicorn.

“And that’s it? That’s all you intend to do?” Renfold asked.

“That’s all,” Nerik said. It conveniently left out anything about smuggling unicorns, or breeding new infernals, or helping anyone else across the gate, and Yorin had to wonder how much more there was about Nerik’s life that he didn’t know.

Renfold was silent for a long moment, and Yorin couldn’t tell whether he was seriously considering letting Nerik live, or looking for any paltry excuse to kill him.

“And what of the rest of you?” Renfold asked finally, turning to face the crowd. “This is not my decision alone. If I allow Nerik – if I allow ademon– to live in Minia, it is you who will have to deal with it, day by day, week by week. I don’t expect for one moment that everyone here is going to agree on what we do next. But iften peoplewill speak up on Nerik’s behalf, then I will allow him to stay in Minia – on condition that he causes no trouble and does no harm to anyone.”

Ten people? Just ten people had to say they trusted Nerik and wanted him to stay? It seemed too easy. “I’ll speak for him,” Yorin began, but Renfold quickly shushed him.

“Not you! You knew about him before the rest of us, and did nothing about it, and so you, Yorin, do not get a say in this.”

On one hand, it was a mightily unfair condition – Yorin was as much a citizen of Minia as anyone else. But on the other hand, if Renfold was feeling vindictive, he could have Yorin charged with treason, so Yorin considered that on balance, things probably evened out. But even without Yorin’s input, there should be more than enough people willing to support Nerik. There were likely more than ten Chalandrians just in the crowd standing here.

“I’ll speak for him.” Kit was the first to say something. “He’s done dozens of errands for me over the years, and nothing’s ever gone missing. Demon or not, he’s more honest than most of the human messengers in town.”

“I’d be willing to let him stay,” Beetie said, sounding a little more tentative about it – likely for the crowd’s benefit, as Yorin couldn’t imagine her having any real objections to Nerik’s presence. “I mean, putting the fire out like that… We’d have all been in big trouble if he hadn’t.”

A handful more people spoke up; Mintesh, Forlegard and Stanley, and then Yokuta, the man with the oddly-shaped head who’d ordered a shirt from Yorin. Knowing what he did now, it was perfectly obvious to Yorin that the man was also a Chalandrian, though he clearly hadn’t been fortunate enough with his disguise to find a witch as clever as the one Nerik had used.

Then a couple of others spoke up, who Yorin could only assume were Chalandrians, though he hadn’t yet been introduced to them as such. Gosta put on a stern, thoughtful face, and when there was a pause in the conversation, she finally deigned to raise her hand. “I’ll speak for him,” she said, making a show of looking Nerik up and down. The performance was necessary, Yorin supposed, in order to make her opinion believable. Gosta was well known both for her dour personality and for her discerning opinions. If she’d supported Nerik too quickly, someone was likely to suspect – as they had done with Yorin – that she knew more about the situation than she was letting on. And that was a risk that none of them could afford right now. “There’s always been something a little odd about Nerik, but like the others have said, he’s honest and he’s reliable. And so long as he doesn’t cause any trouble, then that’s good enough for me.”

That was nine down, one to go. Yorin looked around at the crowd… and when silence met his ears, he realised that they’d already worked through their full cohort of supporters. Surely there were more Chalandrians in town, but unfortunately, not that happened to be here, just at the moment they were needed.

Yorin looked at the faces around him, spotting a few people he knew. Mrs Dee was there, and Rachael, one of the younger nurses from the hospital, and Elria, an elderly lady who still earned a few coins collecting wood in the forest. But each one avoided his gaze, muttering into their handkerchiefs or staring at their shoes. Yorin made a mental note of each person who turned away. In a town like this, it was worth knowing who your real friends were.