Inside the claims tent that night, three animal fat candles burned low in their brass sconces. It filled the canvas space with the scent of melted sheep fat and warm parchment. Hester Quill sat hunched over an open iron-bound deed box, her fingers flying through rolls of yellowed thick parchment tied with red silk ribbons.
Nessa Vale was cleaning her surveying compass with an oiled flannel. Meanwhile, Tomas sat at the table, step by step sharpening a carpenter’s pencil with his pocket knife.
“Here it’s!” Hester exclaimed suddenly, her split steel nib dropping into the sand-pot with a clatter. She pulled out a long, narrow roll of sheepskin thick parchment bearing the faded green wax seal of the First Sovereign.
Tomas leaned forward. “What have you found, Hester?”
“King Alden’s Commoners’ Judicial Exemption Code of 114,” Hester said, her eyes flashing with triumphant malice behind her glasses. “Written during the Great Siphon War, when noble officers were murdering army quartermasters in private duels to hide embezzled payrolls.”
She read the ancient gothic script aloud, her finger tracing the brown ink:
‘Be it enacted by Sovereign Decree that no carrier, cart driver, or sworn trustee of an active, unfulfilled public bond or sovereign audit shall be called to court combat, duel of honor, or private trial of arms by any lord, knight, or gentleman of the realm. Whosoever serves a challenge of arms upon an active sworn trustee during the pendency of a royal inquest shall be held in immediate high…
