His Hand In The Shadows

Chapter 25: Try Me

Masked and hooded, The Renegade led the rioters, encouraging them to make masks of their own in allegiance. They tried twice to set fire to the castle and were put down immediately by the royal guards.

The crown received reports of the daily casualties. "Sixteen dead." "Thirty dead." The king however was in high spirits since the Royal Guard's Research Corp had deciphered the spell and were ready to start trial with water manipulators. With their warriors scattered throughout Arcus and Oldyn, the remainders were stationed by border gates and now also serving as beta testers for the new spells. The king's request for added reinforcements to Grecel was not possible as southern Norlyn riots were getting as bad as the capital. He grew weary of Arcus holding onto his warriors. When he heard nobility had acquired the missing piece to his puzzle, he demanded to know more.

~

The two parties met in an office of a courthouse in Uethena, all the way in northern Norlyn to avoid the riots. They agreed to a meeting to argue the legitimacy of the defendant's claim and arrive at a middle ground.

The flags of Norlyn and the great noble houses hung from the poles attached to white windowless walls. Portraits of royalty and great nobility hung were organized above each other and stretched the length of the wall to meet the high ceilings. A lengthy glass table was in the middle with seats of glass on both sides. The judge sat at one end and the Representative of the crown on the other end. Lawyers were next to the judge and sat on both sides of the table— the accusers and the defense. Lady Nas and Zayd sat on the side of the defense, they faced Lady Cormill and her lawyer as the accusers. The other two great noble houses were also represented near the other end of the table by Lady Euleus and Sir Agris.

Court guards stood at the two doors of the room. Royal guards stood behind Lady Nas and the representative of the crown. Personal guards stood behind the nobles.

The judge looked around the room. He held his documents up to his eyes. "In the case of Cormill vs Nkri—"

"Your pardon, Sir Honor, but the defendant is not here," Lady Nas said.

"She is not well," Lady Cormill's lawyer informed them.

"What did you do?" Zayd scowled at his mother.

"We will begin," the judge said. "Both parties have agreed on the release Ayla Nkri of Belcrest from the Althean Prison, in the event she provides military information regarding the location of the captured warriors of the Norlynian military." The judge looked up. "Accurate?" he asked Lady Cormill. "You are willing to release the prisoner?"

"Accurate, Sir," her lawyer responded.

The judge looked at her a while longer before shifting his eyes back to the documents. "We are here to argue the legitimacy of the defendant's claim after a series of tests have been administered over the weeks. First test administered, the defendant was asked to draw a map of her village. How was her accuracy?"

"98%" Lady Nas' lawyer said.

"The defendant was brought to the Southern Island, Oho, where villagers are not allowed prior to graduation and she had no prior knowledge of, before the start of her first tests and she was asked to recall locations and terrain as the second test a week later. How was her accuracy?"

"85%."

"The defendant was asked to draw a map of the target country, Arcus. How was her accuracy in correlation with the map we have possession of?"

"95%."

"Are there any faults with the results?" the judge asked.

"The girl attended Orhem, did she not? She could have seen the map from her classes," Arell's mother, Lady Euleus said.