“Speak your name, jade.” His sword was again pointed down at her chest. Ava took a deep breath.
“My name is Ava,” she said. “I know who killed the lord, and it wasn’t the priest.” She was banking on her knowledge to surprise him enough that he would bring her to the trial. It worked.
“He is on trial now,” the knight said, his tone stiff. “Come.”
As she followed him and his horse under the archway, she felt the weight of the watch in her pocket. Would it work on the inside of the timepiece? If she twisted it now, would she go back to the beginning?
The knight dismounted and led her inside. An instinctive shadow of a feeling told her no--the watch wouldn’t work in here, any more than a parked car could get on a freeway. She didn’t understand how she knew certain things about this device, how she’d known instinctively to twist it just the right way the first time she held it -- even Charlie had been surprised, and he knew more about her family’s strange legacy than she did. It was like she could feel the weight of certain actions, like there was a gravity to the watch that moved her. She knew it in the strange and familiar way she knew an old friend--one she hadn't seen for quite some time.
Suddenly she realized they weren’t in the main hall; they were going down a set of grey stone stairs. The afternoon light faded with each step downwards, and the smell was cool and dank.
“Where are we--”
The knight twisted around, grabbed her arm, and threw her forward. With a loud clang, she realized she was in a cell. A dungeon cell.
“Your lies are useless here,” he said. “And your trial is next--after we execute the priest.”