“What about Rory? Many witnesses saw a black saber-toothed cat break her neck.”

She tapped her taloned fingers on the table. “Is a soldier responsible for the deaths he is ordered to inflict in battle? Or is the general who commands the deaths held to be the responsible party? Furthermore, on a night of storm, confused and frightened people may see shadows as giant eagles or as creeping spiders. Perhaps there was such a cat. Certainly in the ancestral territories of my people, what you rats call troll country, such carnivores prowl the land. We have hunted them and been hunted in our turn. But that is not proof that your brother committed the act.”

“The prince saw him become a cat and then change back into a man, just now, when he got shot,” I said.

“We cannot accuse a man of thieving a hat just because some man was seen to steal a hat and the accused is also a man.” She bared her teeth at me in a brilliantly sharp smile, as if she were preparing to eat any lawyers who argued against her. “Very well. I am prepared to make a case.”

As the clerk tidied up her notes, we went to the glass-paned doors to look into the deserted courtyard. Afternoon shadows smeared darkness across stone pathways.

Kofi joined us there. “I have set wardens to guard yee so the fire mage can make no mischief before the inquiry. I don’ trust him, with the way he went after yee on the steps. As for the general, we shall see who shall come out the winner in this match.”

“The general scored a point on you all, didn’t he? By catching me at the quay.”

His taut smile made him look eager for a fight. “We’s not playing batey now. We in the Assembly is playing the game of politics. We don’ intend to lose this hard-won freedom. If the Taino can force us to turn yee over to them, then it’s as if they rule us. That’s why we shall fight so hard to get yee off, despite what the law and the First Treaty say.”

Voices were raised outside. We looked around as the door slammed open to reveal stern-faced Taino soldiers, richly dressed attendants, Prince Caonabo, and Beatrice.

6

Some people have the knack of sweeping into any situation as if they were born to be the light of all eyes. Beatrice might be mistaken for a shallow, flighty, and self-absorbed young woman, but I knew her bombastic and flamboyant manner concealed a generous heart, a brooding intellect, and an indignation at the unfairness and injustice in the world. She had had a lot of time to think about the curse of dreaming that would plague her for the rest of her life and had chosen to confront it head-on. Clutching a sketchbook and lead pencil, she sailed into the room.

“Cat! There you are!”