A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking

Two constables arrive and are surprised by the dead girl in the kitchen, despite Uncle Albert’s explanation. The constables call for the coroner, and Aunt Tabitha sends Mona to explain to their regular customers that they cannot open right now.

Mona speaks with several customers, who provide commentary about the situation. One old lady complains that no one is safe anymore and notes that “little Sidney [...] went missing just last week” (13). Another customer insists that the boy probably ran away to sea. A third customer says that Sidney was a “magicker” (13) like Mona, and as sailors are superstitious of magic, he likely did not go to sea. Mona distracts everyone from the tense conversation with gingerbread men.

One of Mona’s skills is using her bread magic to bring gingerbread men briefly to life. She notices that these little men have different personalities depending on the ratios of ingredients. She brings a cookie to life and asks it to dance. The crowd smiles and laughs and then finally breaks up. Then Mona releases the magic, and the dancing gingerbread man goes back to being a regular cookie. She walks back into the kitchen, where she is accused of murder.

Mona stares at the new man in the bakery, who has just accused her of murder. Aunt Tabitha introduces him as Inquisitor Oberon, and Mona realizes he is a high-level member of the Council who works for the Duchess. Oberon claims that the dead body has a taint of magic. He calls Mona a wizard (though she refutes this, saying she has a minor ability that works only on bread), and concludes that Mona is the one who killed the girl. Mona laughs in shock at the ridiculous leap of logic, while Aunt Tabitha objects. Oberon ignores them and orders the constables to take Mona to the palace for questioning.

On the carriage ride to the palace, Mona reflects. She decides this is not the worst day of her life—the worst being the day her parents died—but it is the second worst. She also realizes that prisoners are usually taken to jail. It is unclear why she would be taken to the Duchess. The Duchess rules the city of Riverbraid, which is one of many city-states in the land, each of which has its own government, army, and laws.

Oberon orders guards to take Mona to a small waiting room until the afternoon audience with the Duchess. After a long wait, Oberon returns to take her to the audience. She asks him what is happening and where they are going, and he simply tells her that a judge will decide her guilt.

The audience chamber is a slightly large, utilitarian room. At one end, a middle-aged, pudgy woman with tired eyes sits in a padded chair. Mona recognizes her as the Duchess. Several officials sit near her, including a “ratty little man” in a purple robe who appears to be the judge, and another man in saffron-colored clothes that Mona recognizes as Lord Ethan, the Golden General.

Lord Ethan is famous. He is a powerful wizard, has won several major battles single-handedly, and defeated a raiding party of Carex mercenaries. He is also handsome, with blonde hair and warm brown eyes. Mona is so smitten that she does not at first realize that Oberon and the judge are speaking. Finally, she realizes that Oberon is claiming that Mona was found standing over the body. She corrects him, saying that she found the body. From the conversation, Mona surmises that the girl in the bakery is one of several recent murders in Riverbraid.

Suddenly, the Duchess speaks. Oberon looks startled, and Mona suspects that the Duchess does not usually do anything but watch the proceedings. The Duchess asks Mona about her family. Mona explains that her parents are dead, she works for her aunt and uncle, and she lives in a small apartment above the glassblowers. Then, the Duchess asks if Mona is a wizard. Mona denies this, saying she is “not a real wizard” (34) because she can only magic bread. Finally, the Duchess gently suggests to Oberon that in his “understandable zeal [...] to get to the bottom of this rash of murders” (35), he has mistakenly arrested an innocent girl. She orders them to release Mona and dismisses them. As Mona leaves, Lord Ethan looks up and smiles at her.

Clearly infuriated, Oberon releases Mona. Mona is left outside the gates of the palace with no one to take her home, though the carriage ride was long, and the walk will be even longer. Worse yet, it begins to rain. Angry and trying not to cry, Mona begins to walk.

Mona’s walk takes six hours. The rain stops, but she becomes lost several times, at one point running into a church. However, there is a shortcut through an alley called the Rat’s Elbow, which leads to the Rat’s Nest, an area of the city known to be poor, dirty, and dangerous. Mona takes the shortcut but immediately regrets it as people watch her with suspicion from their windows and front stoops. Mona begins to panic. Then, a voice calls out and she turns to find a dead horse standing behind her.

The dead horse belongs to Knackering Molly. Mona believes Molly may be mentally unstable, though she is, like Mona, a “very minor wizard” (43). She can make dead horses walk. In a city where horses are used for travel and to pull carriages and wagons, this is useful. When horses die, they are difficult to remove from the streets. For a small price, Molly can make them walk on their own power to the rendering yards at the edge of town. She is easy to find because she rides around the city on a dead horse called Nag.

Mona reflects that some people do not like magic-folk. They are nervous around them and make signs against evil. In some city-states, wizards are forced to register with the government or live in separate ghettos. However, that does not happen in Riverbraid. Even if it did, Knackering Molly would ignore it all anyway.

Mona tells Molly about the dead girl and what happened at the palace. Mona mentions Lord Ethan, and Molly warns her that government wizards are dangerous, especially for minor wizards like them. Rumor has it that the army recruited Molly when she was young and forced her to raise dead horses (or perhaps even dead people) to fight during a war, and “she came back crazy” (47). This may explain her suspicion. Molly also warns Mona to be on the watch for “the Spring Green Man” (49). Then, they reach the bakery, and Molly leaves without explaining what she means.