She was wearing a clean dress now. Bess must have given it to her. Her face was pale, her eyes wide. But she wasn't crying.
Bess walked behind her, one hand gently on the girl's shoulder.
The crowd parted, letting her through.
Edmund saw her and something flickered in his eyes. Fear. Genuine fear.
"Mary... Mary, I'm sorry... I didn't mean... please, you have to understand, I was only trying to teach you discipline, you have to..."
Mary walked up to him slowly.
Edmund was still on his knees, held there by Robert and another man gripping his arms. His face was a mess of blood and swelling, one eye already purple and swollen shut.
"Mary, please," he begged. "Tell them. Tell them I fed you. Gave you shelter. Took care of you."
Mary stared at him. For a long moment, she didn't move.
Then she kicked him.
Right between the legs.
Edmund's scream was high-pitched and agonized. He tried to double over but the men held him upright.
Mary kicked him again. In the stomach this time. And again. Her small foot slamming into his chest, his ribs, wherever she could reach.
"You..." kick "...broke..." kick "...ME!" kick.
Tears were streaming down her face now, but her expression was pure fury.
"I was GOOD!" she screamed. "I worked! I obeyed! I did everything you said! And you still hurt me! You STILL beat me!"
She slapped him across the face. Her small hand barely made a sound but Edmund flinched like she'd stabbed him.
"You made me scared all the time," Mary's voice broke. "Every day. Every night. Scared you'd hurt me. Scared I'd do something wrong. Scared you'd hurt my family if I ran."
She slapped him again. Harder.
"I HATE YOU!"
Another slap.
"I hate you I hate you I HATE YOU!"
She was sobbing now, hitting him over and over, her small fists barely doing damage but releasing something that had been trapped inside her for months.
Finally, Bess gently pulled her back. "That's enough, sweetheart. He's not worth it."
Mary collapsed against her, sobbing into Bess's skirt.
Then Lisa stepped forward.
She'd been watching from beside Alex. Now she walked up to Edmund, her face cold.
Edmund looked up at her through his one good eye. "You... this is your fault... you poisoned them against me..."
Lisa didn't say anything.
She just slapped him.
Once. Hard. With all her strength.
Edmund's head snapped to the side and he slumped forward, barely conscious.
"That's for every child you ever touched," Lisa said quietly.
She pulled a bundle of papers from inside her jacket and held them up for the crowd to see. "These are his ledgers. His own records. Every debt, every person, every cruelty. All in his handwriting."
She turned to Bess. "The bailiff. You sent for him?"
Bess nodded. "Last night. After the distribution. Told him there'd be evidence of crimes worth investigating. Should be here soon."
As if summoned, the sound of horses interrupted everything. Shod hooves on cobblestones.
The bailiff and his men rode into the square, dismounting quickly. Six of them, wearing the colors of York's law enforcement.
"What's going on here?!" the lead bailiff demanded. He was older, gray-bearded, with sharp eyes that took in the scene immediately. Edmund on his knees, beaten and bloody. The angry crowd. Mary crying.
Lisa stepped forward before anyone else could speak.
She handed the papers to the bailiff. "Edmund Weston's business ledgers. Documentation of his debt collections and treatment of those bound to him. You'll find detailed records of beatings, excessive labor, starvation used as punishment. Children held past the term of their parents' debts. Property seized beyond the value owed."
The bailiff took the papers, scanning them. His expression darkened as he read. Page after page of transactions. Cold, clinical entries about human lives.
"S-47. Acquired for 12 silver. Broken arm, week 3. Reduced rations for insubordination."
"S-52. Acquired for 8 silver. Requires frequent discipline. Consider resale."
The bailiff looked up at Edmund, then at the crowd. His jaw was tight. "These claims, are they true?"
"YES!" The shout came from dozens of voices at once.
"He beat my son!"
"He starved my daughter!"
"He worked children until they dropped!"
Robert stepped forward, his lip still bleeding from Edmund's backhand. "My son is ten years old. Edmund took him as collateral for a twelve silver debt. The boy's been with him for eight months. I've just paid the full amount, more than paid it. Edmund can't dispute the debt is settled. But look what he did to a child in his care."
The bailiff's expression was stone. He looked down at Edmund, then at the documents again.
In this era, masters had wide latitude over their servants and bondspeople. But there were still limits, especially when it came to children, especially when it came to holding them past the term of debt, especially when the cruelty became public spectacle.
And Edmund had been stupid enough to write it all down.
"Edmund Weston," the bailiff said coldly. "These documents will be reviewed by the magistrate. If half of what's written here is verified..." He gestured to his men. "Take him."
Two bailiffs moved forward, hauling Edmund to his feet. He could barely stand, his legs shaking.
"This is... this is a mistake," Edmund gasped. Blood dripped from his mouth. "I'm a respected merchant. I have friends. Connections. The magistrate knows me. You can't..."
"The magistrate will see these records," the bailiff said. "And we'll see how well your connections serve you. Particularly when there are this many witnesses willing to testify."
He looked at the crowd, then back at Edmund with undisguised distaste.
"Edmund Weston, you're being taken into custody for investigation of charges including excessive cruelty to those in your service, wrongful retention of collateral, and assault." He nodded to his men. "Secure him."
They dragged Edmund toward the horses. He was still trying to protest, still insisting this was all a misunderstanding, but his voice was weak and slurred.
The crowd watched in tense silence as he was bound and thrown across a horse's back.
The bailiff mounted his own horse, the documents tucked securely in his saddlebag. He looked at Lisa. "You'll need to come to the magistrate's office. Give testimony about how you acquired these records."
"I'll be there," Lisa said.
The bailiff nodded, then addressed the crowd. "Disperse. Go home. There'll be no more violence today." His eyes swept over them with warning. "What's done is done. But the law handles it from here."
He turned his horse and led his men away, Edmund secured between two riders.
The crowd stood frozen for a long moment after they left.
Then someone let out a shaky breath.
Then another.
The tension began to break, slowly. People looked at each other, the reality of what just happened beginning to sink in.
Bess was still holding Mary, who had stopped crying but was shaking.
Robert approached them hesitantly. "Mary..."
Mary looked up at him. For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Mary broke away from Bess and ran to him. Robert caught her, dropping to his knees, and they held each other while they both cried.
Alex felt Lisa's hand on his arm.
"We should go," she said quietly. "Before people start asking too many questions about where all that silver came from."
She was right. Already, some people were looking their way with curious expressions.
Alex nodded. He caught Bess's eye and she gave him a small nod in return. Everything else had been said last night when he'd given her enough silver to distribute to two dozen families, with extra for her trouble.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out one more pouch. Heavy with coins. He walked over to where Mary still clung to her father.
"Robert," Alex said quietly.
The man looked up, his face wet with tears.
Alex held out the pouch. "For your family. So you never have to borrow from anyone like Edmund again."
Robert stared at the pouch. "I... I can't... this is too much..."
"Take it," Lisa said, appearing beside Alex. "Start over. Give your son a childhood."
Mary pulled back from her father and looked at the pouch, then at Alex and Lisa. "Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you for saving me."
Alex knelt down. "You saved yourself, Mary. You survived. That took more courage than anything we did."
Mary's eyes filled with fresh tears, but she was smiling. She threw her arms around Alex's neck, then Lisa's.
"Go home," Bess said gently, putting a hand on Robert's shoulder. "Take your son. Be a family again."
Robert took the pouch with shaking hands, nodded to Alex and Lisa with an expression that held more gratitude than words could express, and led Mary away through the dispersing crowd.
People were drifting off now, back to their stalls, their homes, their lives. The market was returning to normal, or as normal as it could be after what just happened.
Alex and Lisa walked in silence back toward where he'd hidden the truck, taking a winding route through side streets.
Neither spoke until they were well away from the market.
"Think it'll stick?" Lisa finally asked. "The charges?"
"The bailiff took the evidence seriously. And there are dozens of witnesses." Alex glanced at her. "Edmund made too many enemies. Even if he has connections, I don't think they'll be enough. Not with this much public attention."
Lisa nodded slowly. "And if they don't convict him?"
"Then at least we freed the people who were suffering under him right now. Gave them resources to stay free. That's not nothing."
"No," Lisa said quietly. "It's not nothing."
They walked a bit further.
"Thomas came through," Alex said.
"He did." Lisa's expression was thoughtful. "I wasn't sure he would. Even after last night, I thought he might lose his nerve."
"But he didn't."
"No. He didn't." She paused. "You think he'll be alright? Walking away from Edmund like that?"
"He's got the silver we gave him. And Gerald's alive. Thomas made sure of that. It's not like he murdered anyone. He'll be fine."
Lisa nodded, but she still looked troubled.
They reached the concealed truck. Alex pulled away the camouflage of branches and canvas.
**
June's voice in his head was calm, matter-of-fact.
Alex stopped, his hand on the truck's door.
"It's done," he said quietly.
"Yeah," Lisa said. She was staring back in the direction they'd come from, though the market was long out of sight. "It's done."
They stood there for a moment, neither moving.
Then Lisa took a breath and turned to face him. "So. I guess this is it. Time for the delivery."
"Yeah."
She looked at him, and for a moment something flickered in her expression. Uncertainty, maybe, or regret. Then it was gone, replaced by determination. "Then let's go. I'm ready."
Alex opened the truck door. Lisa climbed in.
They drove away from York in silence, the city falling away behind them as the morning light grew stronger.