Chapter 93

The Chester constabulary, when they reached the main corridor, had turned to bemused chaos. Officers had left desks and tasks to wander to the big windows, peering out at a sky gone dark and threatening in the space of only a few minutes. Citizens who'd been perhaps brought in for questioning or to file a complaint, even two men in shackles--all of them were gravitating toward the windows to stare at the brewing storm.

Dallin catalogued them without even thinking about it. That young man had likely been reported for prostitution, and they'd brought him in to give him a good scare. That woman had probably been caught trying to cast spells that hadn't worked anyway, and would be fined for magicking without a license. That other woman was trying to press charges against her neighbor, who'd dug himself a small tributary from the stream their properties shared and was siphoning most of the shared water rights.