"I told the Warden that everyone in the Dungeon was my brother, and I had to get them out. He told me every Prisoner was guilty unless I could make up for the wrong they'd done. So I had you clean the Church, and now I've come here to free you from captivity..."
Reality. The Church. The Dungeon.
Annan sat in the Dungeon hall, speaking to the Oddities gathered around him.
Annan hadn't started a fifth attempt yet. He needed a break to think about how to win over Valencia's daughter—and how to stop Valencia's student from arresting him over and over.
"I didn't mean to... They hit me, cursed me, tortured me. After I starved to death, I only set the house on fire by accident..." Candle Head said timidly.
Annan hadn't known about his past.
"That was righteous revenge. I'll ask the Warden to reduce your sentence," Annan said. Archbishop Valencia hadn't said what should happen to the Prisoners, but once Annan completed the commission and handed over the Warden himself, the archbishop would surely leave them to him.
Candle Head looked ready to cry. He bowed gratefully to Annan and nearly set Annan's Mage Robe on fire.
"Don't bow your head. The flames will fall off."
Then the drawing board said, "I never hurt anyone. I was Mrs. Sharan's drawing board. When she died, I woke up, and then the Warden brought me here."
"I'll plead your case with the Warden too."
"And me—"
The Dungeon hall grew noisy as every Oddity tried to clear his or her name with Annan. Of the thirty-odd Oddities in the Dungeon, about half had killed someone. Only a few had killed indiscriminately—among them the Hairless Werewolf.
His past was both pitiful and hateful. After a miserable childhood, he had developed