There was a distant pounding on the door.
Segna startled. It sounded considerably more forceful than the way the servants knocked.
Catt said, "You hide the wand, I'll see who it is."
"Yes," Segna nodded. She began rapidly but carefully re-rolling the vellums and putting them back into the wand. It would be nothing, she told herself, but her hands still shook as she worked.
She finished screwing the gold end-cap back on, and was about to stuff the wand deep into one of the boxes, when she heard a voice from the other room.
"Catt Zago, we have an emergency warrant for your arrest. Cooperate and you will not be harmed."
Segna's blood ran cold.
"This has to be a mistake," said Catt, "What's this about?"
Segna could not see what was happening outside in the balcony room, but she could hear the tension coiled in Catt's voice.
"You are being arrested for violation of your probation, and you are to be questioned in connection to an ongoing investigation."
"Where is the King?" demanded another voice. Segna thought it might be the Visor of Protocol.
It dawned on her that the book box was not an adequate hiding place for the wand. She looked around desperately for something better. The room was mostly bare other than the books, and a few hangers full of clothing.
"You can't be serious, I haven't done anything," protested Catt, adding, "Her Majesty is asleep. Can't this nonsense wait until morning?"
Segna whispered the words of an illusion to render a small object invisible. Even before she finished the hand gestures, she knew the spell was going to fail. The lines of focus twisted and warped in the presence of the much stronger ones inside the wand. It did not even flicker invisible for a single second.
"You will now consent to be restrained," said the first voice. It spoke calmly and with authority. "You may have your court-appointed intercessor present for your questioning."
"I don't consent to that!" said Catt angrily.
Segna tried desperately to think of another way to hide the wand. Did she know a spell that could stick it to the ceiling? It would be less likely to fail, but it would be useless if someone just looked up.
"What happened in here? Your majesty!? Where are you!?" Segna was more sure now that the voice was that of the Visor.
"What happened to the lights?"
That last voice sounded like the Chief Admonisher. They must have looked in the bedroom. Segna had not put any of the lamps back up on the walls, they would still be in a messy pile.
Segna thought about her special teleportation spell. If only she could send the wand through the floor, but of course, it didn't work that way. It only worked on one's living self. It couldn't even take clothing along. Writing a version of the spell that worked on an inanimate magical object would be the work of many hours, even days.
"Restrain her by force," said the first voice.
"Yes Sir," said two other voices in unison.
Helping Catt suddenly felt more urgent than hiding the wand. Segna returned to her original idea. She crammed the golden rod deep into the book box, and hastily pushed books over it.
She stepped out of the door and said, in her most regal voice, "What is the meaning of this!?"
Two executioners were advancing on Catt. Their axes were still on their belts, one was tall with unusually long arms, the other was barrel-chested with broad shoulders and carried a pair of manacles. A third executioner was standing back watching cooly. A clipboard was in his hand. His uniform looked different than the others, and he had a fringe of greying beard peeking out under the edge of his mask.
Catt had positioned the table and chair between herself and the approaching executioners. Her posture was taut as if ready to pounce. She had one hand on the back of the oversized chair, as if she was preparing to wield the heavy furniture as a weapon.
"I command you to stop!" ordered Segna.
The two executioners hesitated, but the third said, "You don't have authority to command us directly, Your Majesty, that requires an act of the courts."
"It's true!" piped in the Seneschal of Delays. Several of Segna's advisors were clustered by her bedroom door. It looked like a couple more were outside in the hallway.
The executioners rounded the chair, one from each side. Catt vaulted up and over the chair, toppling the table as she landed. The remains of their dinner clattered to the floor, but one of the plates was already in Catt's hand and she was smashing it into the face of the long-armed executioner nearest the balcony. Before the shards of porcelain had even hit the ground, she lunged at the barrel-chested executioner with the manacles, punching them in the neck, directly below the mask. They crumpled to their knees, gurgling.
"Axes out!" barked the bearded executioner with the clipboard, adding, "Catt Zago, you have waived your right to a bloodless arrest."
The executioner by the balcony swung their axe viciously at Catt, but overextended. Catt leaped, planted one foot on the handle of the axe, and kicked the executioner's arm, causing them to drop the weapon and fall back against the railing. Catt surged forward and began trying to push them over the edge.
The executioner with the clipboard had discarded it, and was advancing towards Catt's back, axe upraised.
Segna screamed.
The axe missed by a breath as Catt spun out of the way, but the executioner with the manacles had recovered enough to kick the chair into her path. She toppled over with it, and they grabbed first her hair, and then her wrist, and twisted her arm behind her. Catt tore at the eyeholes of the barrel-chested executioner's mask, almost dislodging it from their face, but they continued twisting until she was pinned face down on the stone.
Meanwhile the bearded executioner had helped his long-armed ally back onto the right side of the railing. He lifted the axe again, aiming it at Catt's prone form.
"Stop!" Segna screamed, throwing herself between him and Catt.
He lowered the axe, stepped forward, and seized her wrist with an iron grip. "Restrain the King, please," he said over his shoulder.
Segna could see that Catt had already been manacled, and was still being pinned to the floor.
"Let her go!" Segna demanded. "I command you!"
The long-armed executioner's vice-like hands closed around Segna's wrist, and then an instant later, both her hands were trapped behind her back.
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," said the bearded one who seemed to be the leader. "We may have started on the wrong foot. I am Senior Executioner Crocken, I am arresting your Consort, and no, you do not have the authority to stop me."
Segna glared at him, and then glanced imploringly at her advisors. None of them made any move to help. The Visor just shook their head, and the Admonisher stood with mouth hanging open.
Crocken picked up his clipboard from the floor as he continued, "Your interference is not helping her."
"You were about to kill her!" Segna spat, tugging at her restraints. She could hear Catt grunting with pain and exertion as she struggled unsuccessfully to free herself.
"We might still," said Crocken. Then to someone in the hallway he called, "Send for the backup, we'll need to search these rooms."
"Stop hurting her!" Segna shouted.
"You may hurt her less," Crocken said to the barrel-chested executioner.
Catt stopped struggling suddenly, and was still.
"What did you do?" Segna wailed.
"I'm okay," Catt said in a surprisingly calm voice.
"Don't let your guard down," Crocken ordered.
Three more executioners entered the room.
"We sent a runner to fetch Jantos," said one of them to Crocken.
"Good," replied Crocken. "Search these chambers."
"Who are we looking for?" they asked, glancing at Segna.
"What, not Who," Crocken corrected. "I'll tell you if you find it."
"What are you looking for?" Segna demanded, knowing exactly what he was looking for.
Crocken looked at her for a moment, but did not answer.
Then to the advisors, he said, "You all will need to wait in the hall," and he shooed them away from the bedroom and towards the door.
They complied sullenly with no resistance. Only the Chief Admonisher lingered just outside the door where Segna could still see them.
The executioners made a quick search of the rooms. Catt made no further noise. Segna stared blankly, her mind feeling numb.
"Sir! Is this it?" said one of the executioners, coming out of the book closet carrying the wand.
The executioner who was holding Segna's restraints sucked in their breath.
The Chief Admonisher emitted a low whistle.
"That's it. Good work," said Crocken, taking the wand.
He turned to look directly at Segna. In a loud voice, he said, "King Segna Ur-Segna, I find you Faithless to your royal vow, you will be slain according to protocol."
This was what Segna was expecting, she just had not expected it so suddenly. She had not expected it to happen right here and now.
"What about the High Court?" Segna asked. "Don't I get a trial?" She could see that her advisors were now crowded around the open door, all trying to peer in.
"Oh, yes," said Crocken in a serious tone, "there will be a trial. If they find that I should not have killed you, I will be severely disciplined."
Segna stared at the wand in Crocken's hand, her heart pounding. He had put his axe back on his belt when he had taken it. None of the other executioners were lifting their axes to strike her or Catt.
"So what happens now?" she demanded angrily.
"We need another Senior Executioner present," said Crocken. "It won't be long."
"Can you kill us quick?" asked Catt. Her voice seemed small.
Segna looked at Catt. The executioner had one knee on her back, pinning her down.
Crocken shook his head, "Protocol dictates that there is a specific pattern of cuts that we use for Faithless Kings and their accomplices. It won't be quick… but we won't drag it out either."
Segna shivered.
"Can we… have a minute together… to say goodbye?" asked Catt.
"So you can try to escape? No," said Crocken.
"Please! She won't," Segna implored.
Crocken seemed to be thinking about this. "Sit her up," he said. "You can say goodbye from where you are."
The barrel-chested executioner complied warily, easing off and letting Catt shift into a kneeling position. They moved carefully and seemed wary of being kicked at any moment, but the fight seemed to have gone out of Catt.
Segna stared into Catt's eyes. They burned with an intensity that was at odds with her defeated body language. Segna tried to move closer, and the executioner who held her allowed her a few steps so she would have been within arm's reach of Catt if either one of them had been able to use their arms. Segna choked back tears, wanting to shut out the rest of the world and remember only Catt's face, and think about nothing else around them or anything that was about to happen.
Catt began to speak;
"To go away suddenly into the awayness– bringing only what makes my love my love– escaping the abyss towards exactly where I put my mind–"
Segna realized that Catt was trying to recite her spell, the one tattooed on her body. She was unable to hold back the tears any longer. She knew Catt couldn't possibly make the spell work properly. If it did anything at all, it might fling her into the sky, or bury them down in the earth below.
Wouldn't that be better? She thought. If a failed teleportation spell embedded them into the rock under the palace, the executioners wouldn't be able to cut them apart. They wouldn't be able to steal her soul with that horrible wand.
Segna let the lines of focus flow through her mind. She started to speak the words along with Catt, saying the words that Catt missed, speaking variables into being, helping to complete the spell.
"What are they doing?" asked one of the executioners.
"I don't know," said Crocken. "Stop them."