Hold Me as I Fall

Chapter 5: Dioghaltas

Torian arched his shoulders back, stretching as he waited for the guard to call up the next speaker. His legs had gone numb from the extended amount of time that he had been stuck sitting down on the bench and he could feel a stinging sensation in his tailbone. It was midday and they were now on day two of La an Bhreithiunais.

Yesterday had gone better than expected with many of the issues being the usual squabble over gold, land rights, and some minimal interactions with humans. All issues that he had years of experience in and could give solid solutions for, but despite the speed at which he had been able to get through the various cases, by the end of the day they had only heard three hundred and sixty-four.

"Six hundred and thirty-seven may now approach!" Barked a guard standing beside the far end of the Speaker section. A short man in the middle of the seats stood up and began the trek down towards him. He was bald and pudgy with red cheeks and a short nose. His light blue robes looked to be a size too large for him. He accepted the speaking stone from the guard, hesitantly walking into the center of the room.

"Testing." His voice was high and nasally.

"It works. Proceed." Torian responded, waving his hand.

"My name is Flynn and I work in the fields to the Northeast, near the human town." Torian noticed as tears began to pool in the corner of the man's eyes and he leaned forward, suddenly more engaged, ignoring the tingling that ran down his backside and legs.

"Take your time Flynn," he said softly.

"My wife's name is Una and she's been taken by the Muc.. because of someone sitting in this room." His voice broke and Torian turned as everyone in the room began to look back at one another, gasping and shifting in their seats. The Chieftains behind him began muttering amongst themselves furiously. Breca gave him a wild look and Broderic stood up quickly.

"Who do you deem responsible for this act?" Broderic's voice boomed loudly across the room.

Flynn looked up from the floor and towards the bottom of the Speaker's section, pointing to a man who sat motionless on the edge of his seat. His face was pale, and his nose swollen. Broderic motioned for a guard, and one grabbed him by his arm, bringing him into the middle of the room but keeping distance between him and Flynn.

"Hand him a speaking stone." Broderic demanded.

At this, Torian tapped his knuckles on the counter softly, hinting for Broderic to have a seat. Broderic flicked his cape behind him as he did so, bowing his head in an apologetic gesture for the overstep. "What is your name?" Torian asked the new man now standing in the middle.

"Achill."

"Achill, I assume that since you showed up today, you are not on the run and therefore there is more to this story. I will give you and Flynn a chance to speak your pieces, but I ask that you not interrupt each other." Torian interlocked his fingers as his elbows dug into the counter. Achill nodded in acknowledgment; his lips pressed tight together. "Flynn, I wish for you to start at the beginning. Do you know each other?" He motioned towards Achill.

"He works in the fields. I know him in passing, yes." Flynn sniffled as he tried to collect himself.

"When was your wife taken?"

"Four days ago."

"I would like for you to tell me what happened, starting from the beginning of the day, four days ago, that caused you to make this most serious accusation."